


His Favourite

by flightinflame



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Grooming, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Manipulation, Project Blackwing (Dirk Gently), Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 22:19:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18748225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: Looking back on it now, he could see that he had been stupid. He never should have fallen for the Major's lies. Only, he'd been young at the time. He'd been young, and told that his abilities made him a monster, that there was something wrong with him. And then Major Riggins had come along.





	His Favourite

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Lourdesdeath for the inspiration here.

Looking back on it now, he could see that he had been stupid. He never should have fallen for the Major's lies. Only, he'd been young at the time. He'd been young, and told that his abilities made him a monster, that there was something wrong with him. And then Major Riggins had come along. 

Major Riggins had been kind. He had supported him, told him that he was special. He'd been interested in what he was able to do. He smiled, and listened to what he had been doing. Riggins was the first person who actually cared about what he could do, who found him interesting, who told him that he was proud. 

It was easy to fall for that kind of line, when you were used to being told that you were nothing. Being told that he was precious, that he was remarkable, well, that was exactly what he had been waiting for. More than that, the Major was patient with his mistakes. It was hard to get his abilities to work quite right, but the Major never got angry, not when he was young at least. As he got older, that had changed. But when he'd first come in to Blackwing, he'd been made to feel better.

***

"You're doing well," Major Riggins had told him, ruffling his hair with a fond smile on his lips. "Everyone's impressed with your work, my boy."   
And he'd been delighted. He'd believed it. He'd felt special. When he'd been brought to meet new people, military generals and politicians, he'd learned to smile. It had felt nice, to wear a suit and smile. Some of the people had met seemed a little unsure around him, backed away. They hadn't wanted to see what he could do.

Major Riggins had squeezed his shoulder gently after that, and patted his hair.   
"It's alright, they can't all see how special you are. Don't let it get to you."  
He'd nodded, and returned to his studies, as best as he could. If the Major wanted him to learn how to control his abilities, he would do that.

It was hard, but he had wanted to be good. To make the Major proud. Even when it was hard, even when it hurt, he wanted to do it. He had to, because he had been saved. He had been trapped for so long, feeling like he was a freak, like he was a monster. And then the Major had taken him in. So he stood there in his suit and smiled at strange men, learned to shake hands and listen and try to pass as normal when it was needed.

"You're going to go on and do great things my boy," Major Riggins had told him. And even then, he'd known what Riggins had meant. That he'd do great things that he was told to do, that he would do great things under Riggins' orders. That he would become his tool, that he would serve him and do what was expected. That by being good, being a perfect subject, a perfect soldier, he would be able to pay the man back. He knew that, even at about twelve. And he'd been sure that what he was doing was going to be right. 

***

Back then, he'd never imagined that he would question the Major. Everything the man had expected was done without question, without complaint. He pushed his own hopes, his own thoughts, his own desires, down inside of him. Because when he let them show, the Major told him that he was wrong. That he was bad, and that he was wicked. The thought of being wicked had frightened him then, because disappointing Riggins had been the scariest thing he could imagine.

That was before he'd realised the truth. That everything Riggins had told him was a lie, told to manipulate a vulnerable boy who didn't know anything better. That what Riggins had told him was his own wrongness was just how he was meant to be. That people had been right, before, when they'd called him wrong, called him a monster.

Now that he was older, he knew who he was meant to be. And it required him to put behind him every lie that he had been told. To start again, to start afresh, away from Blackwing. He'd moved on, reclaimed his old name, made choices about who he was. Become who he was meant to be.

Which is why he'd been startled, when the phone had rung and he'd picked up to hear a voice on the line that he didn't recognise.   
"We need you to come back in, Mister Priest."


End file.
